This invention relates to ice delivery and cleaning apparatus, preferably for use in a commercial setting, and especially for ice making apparatus of the auger-type which produces flaked or chipped ice by freezing water on an inner wall of a hollow freezing chamber, and in which an ice auger scrapes ice off a surface of the freezing chamber. The ice is then compressed and delivered to an ice bin or other storage or ice retaining means, generally in the form of one or more longitudinal rods of ice. The ice rod is broken up into nuggets of a predetermined size for delivery through the inlet of the ice bin or other retaining means.
As ice travels through the ice transport tube or other delivery means, it will generally be in the form of at least one longitudinal rod of ice, and will preferably be cylindrical in configuration, such that when the ice is broken up into nuggets, each of the nuggets will be cylindrical in configuration and of approximately equal longitudinal length. While the cross-sectional shape of each of the nuggets may preferably be cylindrical, due to the cross-section of the ice transport tube generally being cylindrical, it will be noted that it is possible to design other cross-sectional shapes for the ice nuggets depending upon the cross-sectional configuration of the ice transport tube.
When nuggets of ice are delivered into an ice bin, it can sometimes occur that the bin becomes filled with nuggets and the continued delivery of ice to the bin can create stresses to various bin components that can result in breakage or forced opening of bin lids or other components. Also, when ice is being delivered from the site of its formation to an ice bin or other ice retaining means that is remote from the location of ice formation, the ice transport tubes can take on increased lengths, possibly lending themselves to build-up of mold, algae, or other organisms. Where ice is discharged into a bin that is located in close proximity to the ice-making machine, such delivery often involves the use of a chute that can readily be disassembled for cleaning and sanitizing. However, with increased distance between the ice-making apparatus and the ice storage bin or other ice retaining means, it is desirable to transport the ice via a tube.
It is known to provide cleaning systems for ice delivery tubes or other conveying systems. Some such cleaning system use pressurized air or vacuum to move ice in batches from the ice making equipment to the point of use. Some such systems sanitize the tube periodically by soaking a fabric plug in a solution and placing it into the tube through a valve, then propelling the fabric plug via pressure or vacuum provided to the tube throughout the length of the tube. Such systems generally operate at a high speed of delivery through the tube, such that contact time of the solution on the tube wall is extremely short resulting in the possibility that some organisms survive the cleaning process.
Other ice conveying systems clean and sanitize ice transport tubes by threading a wire or flexible wand through the tube from the ice machine to the point of use. Such systems may be satisfactory for very short (less than 10 feet) lengths of delivery tube. However, with increasing tube length, often having numbers of bends therein, it becomes impossible to thread anything through the tube because the friction of the inside of the tube becomes greater than the buckling strength of the flexible wand.
Still other ice conveying systems seek to sanitize the tube by making ice out of a sanitizing solution and transporting it through the tube, seeking to sanitize the tube as the frozen sanitizing solution moves through the tube. However, since such solutions are frozen, they do not perform as effectively as would be desired if they were a liquid at room temperature. Furthermore, all of the ice that is made from sanitizing solutions must be collected and discarded, and the ice machine must thereafter be run for a period of time with fresh water to push out any remaining solution from the tube, with such ice that is used to push out remaining solution from the tube being thereafter collected and discarded. Such is generally a long process and involves the use of personnel to oversee and collect the ice.